- "Safeer" is a program, not a single track
- The 4 tracks at a glance (comparison table)
- Al-Rowad: top-30 institutions, all fields
- Emdad: top-200, and the route to France without French
- Research & Development: the PhD track
- Wa'ed: skills, creative fields, and partners
- Which track fits you?
- What the new 2026 French fees mean for each track
Most Saudi families say "Safeer" as if it were one thing. It is not. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, run by the Saudi Ministry of Education, is organised into four distinct tracks, and the track you apply under decides which French institutions you can target, whether you can arrive without French, and even how the new 2026 tuition fees affect you. This guide explains all four, Al-Rowad, Emdad, Research & Development, and Wa'ed, specifically for studying in France, using the program's official rules.
"Safeer" is a program, not a single track
France is an officially approved destination of the Safeer program, and the Ministry's France page lists flagship institutions including the Sorbonne, PSL, Sciences Po, Universite Paris-Pantheon-Assas, HEC Paris and Institut Polytechnique de Paris. But "being eligible for Safeer" is not enough on its own; you apply under a specific track, and each track has its own ranking bar, degree levels, and admission rules.
One procedural point causes a lot of confusion. The three academic tracks (Al-Rowad, Emdad, R&D) are processed through the Qabul (قبول) unified-admission platform, while Wa'ed is applied for separately on the Safeer platform (safeer2.moe.gov.sa). Knowing which platform and which track applies to you is half the battle. Our overview of using the Safeer scholarship to study in France sets the wider context, and the eligibility guide covers the general conditions.
The 4 tracks at a glance
| Track | Degree levels | Ranking bar | Best for | France route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Rowad (الرواد) | Bachelor's, Master's | Top 30 (program list) | All disciplines, elite schools | HEC, Sciences Po, PSL, Sorbonne (unconditional admission) |
| Emdad (إمداد) | Bachelor's, Master's | Top 200 (program list) | High-demand labour-market fields | Main academic route; conditional admission for language |
| R&D (البحث والتطوير) | Doctorate (PhD) | Top 200 (program list) | 5 priority research fields | PhD at top French labs (regular doctoral fee) |
| Wa'ed (واعد) | Diplomas to Master's | None (partner-based) | Skills & creative sectors | Named programs, e.g. Le Cordon Bleu, Ecole Ducasse |
Rankings are defined "per the program's own approved list", not a single public ranking like QS or THE. Always confirm the current list and your target institution on the official portal before committing.
Al-Rowad: top-30 institutions, all fields
Al-Rowad (the "Pioneers" track) targets admission to one of the top 30 institutions on the program's approved list, across all disciplines, at Bachelor's and Master's level, with in-person study only. It carries the highest academic bar, and it is the only track with named exemptions on the official conditions page: it is exempted from the 30-year age cap for Bachelor's study and from certain prior-degree restrictions.
For France, Al-Rowad is the route to the very top: French grandes ecoles and elite universities such as HEC Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Sciences Po, PSL and the Sorbonne can meet the top-30 bar. The catch is that Al-Rowad requires a final, unconditional admission. That means you must already meet the program's language requirement, so it fits students who either hold the needed French level or enter an English-taught program. If your French is not there yet, look at Emdad instead. Our guide to grandes ecoles vs universities helps you target the right institution type.
Emdad: top-200, and the route to France without French
Emdad (the "Supply" track) targets admission to one of the top 200 institutions on the program's list, in fields with high labour-market demand, at Bachelor's and Master's level. It is the primary academic route to France for most students, and for one important reason: France is a non-English-speaking country, and Emdad is structured around conditional admission for language study, where the scholarship funds a preparatory French year on arrival.
An honest nuance: this language-conditional provision is a program-wide rule (the same clause appears on the Al-Rowad page), not unique to Emdad. But in practice Emdad is the track built around it, which is why a Saudi student who does not yet speak French usually reaches France through Emdad. We cover this path in depth in our guide to the Emdad track and studying in France without French, and the language certification itself in our DELF vs TCF guide.
Research & Development: the PhD track
The Research & Development track is for the doctorate (PhD) only, requiring admission to a top-200 institution on the program's list, with in-person study. It concentrates on five priority research areas aligned with Vision 2030: natural sciences, mathematics and statistics; information and communication technologies; engineering, manufacturing and construction; agriculture and veterinary science; and social sciences and journalism.
France is strong for doctoral research, and there is a financial bonus specific to this track: doctoral programs in France are not subject to the new differentiated tuition fees. PhD students pay the standard national doctoral rate (around 397 EUR), not the higher non-EU bachelor/master fees discussed below. If your goal is research at a top French laboratory, R&D is your track. Our guides to engineering studies and medical studies in France cover related advanced paths.
Wa'ed: skills, creative fields, and partners
Wa'ed (the "Promising" track) is the outlier: it has no university-ranking threshold. Selection is by named partner institutions and program-specific criteria, often tied to an employer partner, and it spans short certificates and diplomas through to Bachelor's and Master's level. It is applied for on the Safeer platform, separate from the Qabul process used by the three academic tracks.
Wa'ed targets future-skills and creative sectors: culinary arts, hospitality, sports and recreation, aviation, media and broadcasting, animation, and design. It also has the most concrete named France inclusion on the official site: Wa'ed listings feature France-based culinary programs such as Le Cordon Bleu and Ecole Ducasse. Treat these as illustrative of France's inclusion rather than guaranteed open windows, application intakes vary. If gastronomy is your field, see our guide to studying culinary arts in France.
Which track fits you?
A quick way to self-identify before a proper diagnostic:
- Top student aiming at an elite school, French ready (or English-taught)? Al-Rowad.
- Strong student, high-demand field, and you do not speak French yet? Emdad, the conditional-admission route.
- Pursuing a PhD / research career? Research & Development (and you avoid the differentiated fees).
- Skills, culinary, creative or partner-linked program? Wa'ed.
Choosing the wrong track is the most expensive mistake in a Safeer file: a strong non-French speaker who applies under Al-Rowad will struggle where Emdad would have worked. Matching your profile, your field, and your French level to the right track is exactly the work of our Diagnostic and Orientation services, and our guide to choosing your university major in France aligns field with institution.
What the new 2026 French fees mean for each track
From the 2026-2027 academic year, France's differentiated tuition fees for non-EU students are the enforced rule (about 2,900 EUR/year for a Bachelor and 3,950 EUR/year for a Master, versus roughly 178 / 255 EUR for EU and exempt students). An important clarification for Safeer families: a Saudi government scholarship does not legally exempt you from these fees, the statutory scholarship exemption is reserved for French government (BGF) grant holders. What happens is coverage, not exemption: the Custodian scholarship pays your tuition via its financial guarantee, so you are effectively zero out-of-pocket, even though the university still invoices the full rate.
By track: Al-Rowad and Emdad students at public universities are invoiced the differentiated rate (covered by the scholarship); R&D (PhD) students are not subject to it and pay the regular doctoral rate; Wa'ed depends on the specific partner program. A case-by-case institutional waiver is possible but never guaranteed, and must not be assumed. We keep the detail current in our student budget guide.
The bottom line: do not treat Safeer as one thing. Identify your track first, because Al-Rowad, Emdad, R&D and Wa'ed open different doors in France with different rules. Get the track right and the rest of the file follows; get it wrong and you can lose a year. If you want help matching your profile to the right track and target institutions, our team in Riyadh and Paris runs discovery calls.
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